The register and registration procedure
Section 25: The register
87.Subsection (1) requires the Commission to set up and maintain a register of tertiary education providers in Wales. The Commission must register those providers that apply to be registered and which satisfy the conditions for registration (subsection (4)). The making of a registration application is voluntary.
88.The register, through the use of registration conditions (see sections 27 to 35), provides a means of regulating such providers. In combination with revised student support regulations made by the Welsh Ministers under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998, registration will also determine a provider’s eligibility for automatic designation for Welsh Government student support.
89.The register is to be divided into different categories of registration specified in regulations made by the Welsh Ministers (subsection (2)). It is intended that the categories of registration will allow appropriate variance in the conditions of registration required for different types of registered providers in receipt of different forms of public funding. Regulations may prohibit a provider from registering in one category whilst it is registered in one or more other categories (subsection (5)).
90.Providers, once registered, must meet the general and any specific ongoing registration conditions applicable to them in the relevant category of registration. Provision for these conditions, and the process for determining them, is set out in sections 28, 29, 31, 32 and 33.
91.The procedure for and form of applications for registration is a matter for the Commission to determine (subsection (7)). Information contained in the register must be publicly available (subsection (11)), and the Welsh Ministers may specify in regulations the information that is to be contained in a registered provider’s entry in the register (subsection (8)).
Section 26: Registration procedure
92.This section sets out the procedure to be followed in the event that the Commission intends to refuse an application for registration, or where the Commission intends to refuse an application from a registered provider to change categories.
93.The Commission must notify the governing body of the provider where it intends to refuse the provider’s application. In doing so, the Commission must specify its reasons and the period within which a provider may make representations to the Commission about the Commission’s proposal (subsection (2)). The period must not be less than 28 days (subsection (3)).
94.The Commission may, at the conclusion of the specified notice period, either decide to register the provider in the category to which it has applied, or refuse to do so. The Commission must notify the governing body of its decision (subsection (5)) and a notice of refusal to register a provider must set out the grounds of refusal and information as to the right of review of the Commission’s decision (subsection (7)).
